


I am (your) King

by AllennellA



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Consensual Possession, Emotional Constipation, Gen, Jealousy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-25 08:37:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2615330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllennellA/pseuds/AllennellA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I want you to be one of my kings.”</p><p>It wasn’t news to say Alibaba wasn’t a big fan of Judal.  Well, why would he be?  They were introduced with a brutal beating that got Ugo banished from Aladdin’s flute and could’ve hurt or killed some of his—well, Balbadd’s citizens.  Aladdin won the competition for Alibaba’s favorite Magi without even having to put forth an effort.</p><p>So, Judal was really making him a twinge pissed off, at the moment.</p><p>(In which Judal causes trouble, Aladdin has a lot of feelings, Alibaba does too, and canon is tossed to the side after the flashback.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I am (your) King

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IzuKou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IzuKou/gifts).



“Hey, wimpy king.”

He couldn’t help it, his first reaction was to draw his knife and turn on _that_ voice.  It had to be Judal without a doubt, no one else could be such a smarmy bastard, Alibaba thought, his upper lip twitching with irritation.

“What do you want?” Alibaba forced down the lip twitch and painted on a smile, and Aladdin’s words to be honest to himself echoed.  Sorry Aladdin, not this time.  Judal was actually dangerous, and Alibaba didn’t want to intentionally tick off someone when he already ticked him off by just having an existence.

Judal placed a hand on his bare skin between his hip and his ribcage, a gesture that shouldn’t be nearly as mocking as it was.  His gesture had nothing on his words though.

“I want you to be one of my kings.”

“No!” The blonde balked, placing his knife back in its sheath, “Are you kidding me?”

“It’s an advantageous offer,” Judal tossed his wand up with his free hand and caught it absent-mindedly.

How?  It wasn’t advantageous at all, Alibaba thought with an increasing irritation.  There was nothing to be gained from partnering with Judal instead of Aladdin, and Alibaba spent no extra words telling the Magi that no was no.

“You see, soon our dear Aladdin will admit to lying to you all,” A cruel smirk curved onto Judal’s lips, his red eyes narrowing, “And when you realize that he and I are no different, you’ll see my side of things.  Being my king will get you your kingdom back faster, it will gain you Kouen’s trust.  Advantageous, I’d say.”

“Kouen wants me because I’m connected to Aladdin, and that’s it,” Alibaba spotted the flaw immediately, and he leapt on it; he didn’t like that Judal could be right about the lying.  Who knew what exactly Aladdin would reveal in his tale of this strange Alma Toran?  Alibaba was worried that a lot of lies were about to be exposed and he didn’t like the thought.

“That’s not entirely true; you haven’t brought him Aladdin yet and he’s still keeping you around,” Judal’s wand sparked with red flickers of magoi, not quite magic that was purposeless as he played with the direction of the conversation effortlessly, “Imagine how shocking it would be if you joined us?  Aladdin would be shocked into depravity.”

Alibaba bit back a retort, something that went along the lines of ‘I’d rather die.’  His current condition meant he had to play nice, but he wouldn’t ever wish anything bad for his friend, and certainly never for the shallow reasons Judal was offering up.  Actually, this whole conversation made him want to punch the dark magi hard enough to make it hurt, really hurt.

It wasn’t news to say Alibaba wasn’t a big fan of Judal.  Well, why would he be?  They were introduced with a brutal beating that got Ugo banished from Aladdin’s flute and could’ve hurt or killed some of his—well, Balbadd’s citizens.  Aladdin won the competition for Alibaba’s favorite Magi without even having to put forth an effort.

So, Judal was really making him a twinge pissed off, at the moment.  It was a sick sort of anger that he didn’t like to admit he had.

The twisted Magi, with his red, pointed stare and his sweeping braid curling around his ankles, only continued talking.  His lips formed the words, “So what do you think?”

What did he think?  Alibaba didn’t even have to think about it.  There was no other answer.  What Judal had been suggesting was so inconceivable, so horrible that it had not even been a thought in his brain.  Who wanted to fall?  Who wanted to turn into a monster on purpose?  Who wanted to turn into a monster because some lunatic offered them more power for no reason?  Especially when he ended his offer with a threat of hurting his friend?

“Hakuryuu might have chosen you, but I will never become your king candidate,” Alibaba shook his head slowly, “Don’t you understand that you’re sick?  Your soul is twisted with hate and pain, and all you want is to make people suffer so they understand how miserable you are all the time.”

“How different is that from your precious Aladdin, though?  He hides the truth and lies to everyone.  He convinces them that their misery is something they can’t fight.  He tells them all to accept whatever shit that destroys their own hearts.  He’s just as sick and twisted as I am,” Judal rolled his eyes, “You are tooting your own horn, pretending you have some sort of moral pedestal.  Congratulations, but you don’t.  Still, I see I am not convincing you of anything.  It’s too bad you’re so boring, it’d be fun to knock down that chibi from his high horse.”

“Aladdin and I help people, and you never have.  Even if people are hurt by fate, thousands more are killed because of your precious depravity!” Alibaba protested, his hand going to the hilt of his knife without thinking.  His metal vessel was the only chance he had for going up against Judal if the fight continued, but…

“Come to me whenever you feel like being free of all that shit holding you back,” Judal waved him off, ignoring any sort of threat he posed whatsoever and just walking off, sashaying or strutting or however his hip-swinging stride could be called.

Alibaba did feel chained by a lot of things, and his dreams, his real dreams, had nothing to do with a country or with being a king.  He’d told Aladdin the truth.  He wanted to run a little store in a peaceful country and make enough money to support his friends, and perhaps find someone to spend his life with.  Balbadd and his birth demanded he didn’t let his people suffer, his upbringing and his promise to Kassim demanded he didn’t look away from what the Kou empire had done to his country, but he had never wanted to be a prince or a king in the traditional sense.

Sometimes, he didn’t feel as if he was strong enough to carry that burden or to create the necessary change.  Sometimes he felt weak.  But Aladdin had this miraculous ability to chase that all away with a smile and well, following Judal’s path of black Rukh wasn’t going to make anyone happy.  Judal was a liar. 

And despite that insinuation, Alibaba was sure that Aladdin trusted him and told him everything important, at least.  All of his lies would be white, innocent, or something.  He had to believe his friend had trusted in him.

The blonde king candidate stared at the floor, his eyes unfocused as his thoughts wandered down paths that didn’t tell him nearly enough of the answers he desired.

* * *

It was out of boredom and a horrible sense of unfulfilled longing that Aladdin went to find someone to entertain him.  His friends’ absences were painful aches, and now he didn’t even have other friends to ease those worries with him.  Well, there were some here that he could claim as friends, but they were first and foremost teachers and leaders and  _busy_ .

He found Yamuraiha equally as busy as everyone else, but he went to bother her anyway.  Sneaking up behind his teacher, Aladdin jumped on Yamuraiha’s back, squeezing her tight and pressing his cheeks between her exposed shoulder blades.

“Aladdin, you little brat!” She shrieked, dropping her important crystal ball from her hands and scrambling to catch it before it shattered.

Aladdin did some mindless floating magic on it to save it, for surely it was delicate and important, and he didn’t want to make his teacher mad at him for breaking something like that.  The ball saved, Aladdin noticed that the magical device looked familiar to something he’d seen before, probably in Magnostadt.  It was… a scrying ball?

“You have such a rare device, auntie Yamu!” Aladdin bounced over to observe it closely, his eyes scouring the blue, seamless surface.

Nothing like the mysteries of the world to distract him from his loneliness.

“I made it myself,” the blue haired magician bragged, puffing her chest out in pride, “It’s a one of a kind design!  You don’t even need a ball on the other side to spy on someone, it’ll show you them and wherever they are.”

“That’s amazing!” he bet his eyes were like saucers, staring through the translucent color in hopes of seeing the promised someone inside.  It didn’t provide him any images, so he stared closer.  How did it work?  Could he see anyone?  Was it limited to the present time, or could he use it to see the past and the future?

Yamraiha snorted, “You have to cast a spell first, so the rukh know who they’re supposed to find.  Who would you like to see?”

‘My parents,’ Aladdin thought automatically.  But his mom had passed on and joined his father in the rukh, so really, he saw and felt his parents all the time, and the ball couldn’t possibly show him Solomon and Sheba.  Next, his head brought to mind Ugo, in the room where he waited as gate keeper, but then Aladdin was scared of showing a sight to Yamraiha that would confuse her, or worse, that it was beyond her magic and she’d get angry at him.

So, that only left one person he had a burning desire to see, and he told her so simply, that he’d very much like to see Alibaba.

“I didn’t think he’d been gone that long…” Yamraiha smiled as she figured out what her old pupil had in mind.

He missed everyone so much, but Alibaba had been his first true friend, the one he knew the longest and for some reason, his emotions got all jumbled when he thought of him, too many things happening at once.

Aladdin blushed, looking away, “I’d like to Morgiana too, but—”

“Hey, no freebies with the magic ball.  You get to see one of your friends, not all of them!” The turquoise haired witch scolded, but her smile softened into something sweet, like watermelon, and Aladdin thought, not for the first time, that his mentor was a very beautiful woman.

A lot of this world was very beautiful, especially the love and friendships between people.  That was what Aladdin wanted to protect.

“Then just Alibaba!” The magi demanded, “Please?”

She chuckled, and placed the ball on a stand, covered in a velvet drape and held up by dragon shaped spires that cradled the sphere like Atlas held up the world.  Yamuraiha placed both of her hands on the sphere, and, whispered softly, “

روخ من سليمان العظيم، وتأخذ كلامي وتبين لي الروح دعا بابا سالوجا، أو كلما أي وقت مضى حيث انه قد يكون.

”

The ball, originally completely transparent with nothing to hide inside of its crystal depths, began to glow with the gold of the rukh, and a foggy image appeared, faint colors painting a scene stretched to odd dimensions on the rounded surface.

Aladdin leaned in closer to see it better.  He’d left his magic reading glasses behind, since he wasn’t expecting to need them, but hindsight was always 20-20 and now he knew.

Tiny little ant people appeared, and the one most centered was the person the magi had been hoping for, with golden hair and an equally golden heart.  He was standing alone, head hung low, and there looked to be some unidentifiable person in front of him.  Still, Alibaba was Aladdin’s king, his brave, selfless king, and he stood tall with pride even though he stood alone.  It hurt to see him so far away, without being at his side.  And Aladdin thought, a horrible flicker of a thought, that seeing Alibaba like this only made him miss him more, and more, and more.

It wasn’t the same as seeing him up close and personal, not being able to count his eyelashes or stare at his veiled muscles beneath his shirt, things that Aladdin felt he had no business doing but had been doing for reasons unknown to him.  Things originally seeming unwelcome and strange that he hadn’t planned on or wanted to be doing, thinking of his king candidate in such a way, but… he had been, anyway.

Even more importantly, watching him like this wasn’t the same as being there and standing next to him, strong and even more proud of his king than his king was.  He’d promised to make Alibaba a stronger king, strong enough to fight the black rukh in the world and end Al-Tharmen, to protect his country and his friends.  That truly was what Aladdin wanted.

The image only became clearer, and both he and Yamuraiha took an inward gasp that sounded more like a hiss than a breath.

The person confronting Alibaba was Judal.

Judal had tried to kill Alibaba before, and even though his king was strong, Judal was stronger and more importantly, conniving,  He didn’t trust Judal not to lie, cheat, and steal his way into murdering someone and getting away with it, just for fun.  The Kou Empire loved him as their treasured priest.  If he killed Alibaba, he might get away with just a light slapping.

Aladdin almost grabbed his staff and went ballistic on the magic ball before he remembered that it really was just a magic ball, and that no matter what he did, it was Alibaba who was faced with the threat, and he was only a spectator.  He grabbed his staff anyway just to have something to clench in his fingers, until his knuckles turned white and the wood creaked under the pressure.

“It’s just an image,” Yamuraiha said, her voice unsteady with an edge of fear that came from the past encounter that she had experienced with Judal that no one ever spoke of.  All they knew was that none of the eight generals were the same afterwards.

“It’s not an image I like,” Aladdin felt a strange bitter edge in his voice as he kept watching… There was no violence, just talking, which made it all the more fearsome.

He knew Alibaba was very good at talking to people and making them realize that they should change, but… wasn’t this wrong?  How could Alibaba change someone like Judal, who had chosen evil even when confronted with how it wronged him?  Somehow, seeing his king alone made him scared that Judal’s whispering of darkness would actually convince some tiny part of Alibaba that his own way was wrong.  That fate was wrong.  A chip in the armor, an Achilles heel in his friend that would bring him crumbling into depravity when pushed too far; that was what Judal could create.

Aladdin turned away and said softly, “I don’t want to see anymore, auntie Yamu.”

“Of course,” She said, dispelling the spell with a wave of her staff.  The water witch hesitated, her mouth trembling a little as she tried to form words, “Don’t mind it.  Alibaba probably told Judal to get lost and that was the end of the conversation!”

“Thank you,” Aladdin shook his head.

Yamuraiha’s shoulders slumped, “Aladdin… don’t feel bad, please?”

He looked at her a moment longer, and a million thoughts crossed his head, that his emotions weren’t under his direct control and he’d feel however he’d feel regardless, but… he appreciated her care for him and it made him happy, so he didn’t want to upset her.  Aladdin put on a smile, not too big or too fake, and laughed, “I know that it’ll be okay!  I trust Alibaba.”

* * *

 

Alibaba hadn’t had any direct knowledge of Alma Toran, not more than the average Joe.  He had known it existed, and that was about it.

He felt tears drip off his chin and he tasted the salt of his running nose if he licked his lips, but he couldn’t stop watching.

And now, now that it was all presented out to them, there was nothing to say to Aladdin.

What did he say?

I’m sorry for your loss?  I love you no matter what happened back then?  Neither of those things were the point of showing them all what Alma Toran was.  It was an allegory, meant to teach them all the importance of understanding one another and loving and celebrating everyone’s differences.  But Alibaba already _knew_ all that.  Perhaps Sinbad and Kouen were seeing everything in a new way, but Alibaba couldn’t see past how horrifying it must be to know of what happened to your parents in that sort of way for Aladdin.

More than that, how Aladdin had hidden and lied and stowed away all those secrets, and that he’d never once thought that perhaps he should share his burden.  Even when Alibaba had confronted him on doing just that, that they were supposed to share this sort of thing as friends, Aladdin had only told them all to teach them a lesson.

It seemed condescending and horrible in a way that made Judal’s sick words echo back to him.

_“How different is that from your precious Aladdin, though?  He hides the truth and lies to everyone.”_

No, there was no doubt that Aladdin was different.  But, he had hidden the truth. He had lied.  Even to his closest friends.  What sort of trust did they even had?  Could he even fight for someone who had, essentially, been lying to him since their first reunion?  He wouldn’t fall, he knew enough about why that was a horrible idea and would end in horror for everyone, but… he didn’t know if he could trust Aladdin enough to blindly listen to him anymore.

That hurt.  Everything _hurt_.

And now, here, sitting in his room, he had to consider all of that alone.

* * *

It had been one of those evenings, where nothing escaped his train of thought and nothing let him rest.  Something in his chest, what Aladdin assumed were his mixed up feelings, pushed against his ribs and made him ache.  Why had things gone so wrong after he’d told everyone about Alma Toran?  Especially when he considered Alibaba and Morgiana’s reactions.  Something had happened while they were in Balbadd.  Aladdin could assume as much.

He wanted to interrogate Alibaba over what Judal had said to him.

The place they had held their conference, it was not so oppressive when he’d first arrived.  Now it seemed a fortress of darkness and loneliness.  But really, that fortress was inside himself.  It would follow him whether he stayed here or not. 

Alibaba wouldn't leave his thoughts, wouldn't be erased from the wandering trails his mind went on.  Aladdin sighed, his hand cupping his cheek and his eyes drooping shut.  Why had Alibaba just walked away, his eyes full of anger, when he was the one who had known the most about Alma Toran there besides Aladdin himself before he’d said anything?  Why had Morgiana only shaken her head, leaving him without a word and following after Alibaba without either of them looking back?

Why had this happened?

His own weird feelings for Alibaba only twisted the situation more and more out of hand.

It didn't sit right with Aladdin that Alibaba could be so close and so far away.  It didn't sit right that Morgiana would not tell him what Alibaba was thinking or doing or anything other knowledge that Aladdin wanted to know.  Was there anything else in the world that could be more frustrating than this complete void of knowledge; so close to his fingertips but so far, too far, away for him to really grasp?  The problem lay in his own fear.

"I can't do this," Aladdin groaned.  His forehead slipped from the grip of his hand and hit the table underneath his elbow, hard and boneless.  "I'm tired."

 _You should go talk to him again_ , Aladdin's thoughts echoed.  _Sitting here is accomplishing nothing, and soon Alibaba had to leave back to Balbadd and deal with whatever mess he’d got himself into, and you only have this time here with him to really do this.  To make your thoughts heard._  

Aladdin wished he could consider it so easy.

His heart thudded painfully in his chest as he thought about it.  Alibaba, his friend, his king... Aladdin guessed it was this sort of feeling that they called heartbreak?  That meant… he must have given his heart away to Alibaba to have it broken in the first place.  And he knew he loved all of his friends but this wasn’t that sort of feeling.  This was a different sort of feeling. 

This sort of feeling is called something, and he wondered why he couldn't think of the word.  It couldn't be love because that was much purer than this, but it couldn't be anything besides.  It was not the sort of love Aladdin was used to feeling.  It was different, and that scared him.

But, remembering what he did of his parents and how they felt, Aladdin could only assume that this mess of emotion was a not-friend love.  The type of love that made people kill each other, go crazy, the type of love that made Aladdin sick enough to want to die when he thought of Alibaba leaving him for Judal.

It’d be a stretch to call it being in love, but Aladdin couldn’t think of a different way to put it.  He was in love with Alibaba and that was why his feelings were so messed up.

And, now that he had admitted it to himself, Aladdin's thoughts had taken a new and different turn, of things less horrid and more ridiculous in nature. He didn't want to separate from Alibaba.  He wanted to stay by Alibaba’s side.

It was an important distinction; that he wanted to stay by his king's side, and not his king by his.  It wasn’t like him to want to give up his freedom for someone else, but… well, Aladdin never considered himself a person that would give up something he held dear for the sake or benefit of someone else, but then again, he always knew that he was a selfless person if he wanted to be and a cruel one if he did not.  But this wasn't selflessness, not the type of selflessness that he attributed to his king, this was something completely different. 

At its very core it could be called selfishness.   A very very selfish sort of love, especially because he didn’t know if it was returned but he’d pursue it anyway.

He only wanted to be with Alibaba, no matter where he went, purely because his own desires ruled his thinking.  There wasn't some good motive behind it; Aladdin wanted to be with Alibaba because that was what would make Aladdin happy.  There was nothing good about it.

"I should say something," Aladdin mumbled.

He really should.

Aladdin wiped his nose and stood up on his feet, the world feeling strange under his feet.

Solomon and Sheba were supporting him from behind and he knew it, could feel their supportive rukh fluttering around him with love and offering him any strength he could ever desire.  So standing was easy, even when the world felt like it was tilting.  He had to face today.  Moreover, he had to find Alibaba, who wasn’t speaking to him, and Morgiana who was standing behind him with a face full of doubt.

Aladdin didn’t feel like staying, so he took to leaving.  Alibaba’s room was only down the hall, and Morgiana’s only a few rooms further than that.  Although it had been short, just cold breath and cold feet on colder stone, the walk made him feel eyes on his back.  There was no one in this place that wasn’t thinking of him and of Alma Toran and although he thought that was what he desired, the actual knowledge that everyone was evaluating and judging his memories and feelings made him shiver with dread.  He didn’t want to be out in the open like this.

The soft golden light of a candle and the rough wood that made Alibaba’s door, it felt like safety.  But confronted with it, at the threshold, he couldn’t find the courage inside himself to knock like he wanted.

He could do this.  What was there to fear?  Nothing had happened between his king and Judal, nothing important, and perhaps being close again would soothe him.  He had missed Alibaba in the time he had been gone, and now that he understood his own feelings, he wanted to see if actually talking to his friend only reaffirmed his conclusions or destroyed them into the fleeting, nonsensical whims he knew they could be.

He knocked.

Alibaba took a few seconds to answer and Aladdin’s stomach had twisted in knots waiting for him to open up to him.

“Hi, Alibaba!” Aladdin beamed, pretending that he hadn’t been swallowing all of his dark, contemplative thoughts down deep, deeper than anyone would ever see of him.  The short wait time hadn’t helped with how mixed up he was, didn’t slow down his thudding heartbeat or keep his toes from freezing on the cold stone floor.  He pretended that he didn’t desperate need to know everything was okay and the suspense was destroying him.

“Hello… Aladdin,” Alibaba’s usually wide smile didn’t stretch quite right, didn’t meet his eyes.  The usual warmth in the burnished gold irises was there, but it looked like it was behind some sort of thought-filled, emotional filter.  His face looked quite similar to an evening where Aladdin had similarly thought he’d lost his closest friend.

“Can I come in?” Aladdin asked, suddenly afraid.

“Yes,” Alibaba opened the door to him.  Their rooms looked exactly the same down to the location of the cot and the tossed sort of mess they maintained, and really, it was more comforting to be in the room than feeling like an outsider in the hallway, so Aladdin didn’t waste time making himself at home on the mussed bed.  He discarded his staff on the floor for comfort.

Aladdin missed when all three of them could easily just climb into one bed, huddled together not only for warmth but easy, steady, unshakeable companionship.

Alibaba smiled, but once again it didn’t reach far enough, “It’s been a crazy couple of days.  I swore Kouen and Sinbad would kill us if they didn’t kill each other first.”

“Yeah!” Aladdin laughed, but it had too much of an edge to sound real, “Uncle Sinbad’s been so scary lately!”

The conversation paused for a second, probably because they had strayed too far into the truth of the situation.  Aladdin was eating his words about honesty here, he should just… say something.

“I heard that you had a great time staying in Sindria though,” Alibaba scratched the back of his head, “Yunan caused a big ruckus apparently?”

“Very big!  He totally made Sinbad boil over!” He leaned back, feeling guilt in his stomach and behind his eyes and set like cancer in his bones.

The blonde pursed his lips, “I don’t think he was surprised by what you had to say, somehow…”

Oh, Aladdin thought, and he shook his head, “He did act odd after I told everyone.”

Both of them settled down into a sham of comfortable positions, but Aladdin couldn’t help but feel awkward.  He’d thought that seeing Alibaba would settle down his feelings, but it was only making them more confused.  They choked up his throat.

He loved Alibaba more than he knew how to explain to himself, and seeing him so close, it should’ve made things easier but it didn’t.  He knew something deep and horrible lay between them, and it was going to be uncovered very soon.

Aladdin kept his mouth shut.  It was up to Alibaba to reveal it all.

And the silence didn’t have to reign much longer before his king had finally had enough, and just brought it out.

“…Why did you hide all that?” Alibaba demanded.

So that’s it, Aladdin thought, his eyes downcast.

“Alma Toran was supposed to be a secret to everyone.  Even Al-Tharmen, who hated Solomon, kept it that way,” The blue haired boy played with the end of his braid, the guilt making him feel almost nauseous.  Why was he so guilty about this of all things?  Aladdin had to remind himself that he hadn’t done anything wrong, not in that manner at least.

Alibaba’s eyes went sharp, “Knowledge can be power.  We’d have understood their agenda sooner and fought against them better if we had known.”

“But—“

“Judal told me that you’d betray us and sometimes I wonder if he wasn’t right.”

Aladdin grabbed for his staff, his eyes widening.  “What did Judal tell you?!”

“It doesn’t matter what he said!!  Why did you do what you did?”

“Why are you acting like this?!” Aladdin demanded, holding his staff in his hands with a sense of fear that he had never felt around Alibaba before, “What did he even say to you?! Why won’t you tell me?!”

“He asked me to be one of his kings.  Maybe I should be!  Better to be the king of a Magi I can trust to be evil than the king of one I don’t even know anymore!”

“You’re hurt I didn’t tell you about Alma Toran as soon as I knew…”

“So what if I am?!”

“I was following what Solomon wanted!”

“He never wanted to be a tyrant, he wanted everyone to have free will!  If you really knew your father, you’d know he’d have wanted you to decide who to tell on your own!” Alibaba’s fight fled his eyes, his lips mouthing, “And you chose to lie instead.”

Aladdin’s fingers loosened up on his staff, his eyes drifting to the floor.

“Alibaba…” Aladdin shook his head, “I didn’t ever want to hurt you.”

“I believe you,” His king, his golden sunshine king, turned his back on him even though his anger had fled his voice.

Aladdin had no choice but to watch him walk away.  What more could he even say?  He’d made his case, and he’d seen that he’d thought too little of his friends.  He hadn’t trusted them, and that was his error.  Alibaba had the right not to trust him back, but it still hurt, a chest deep ache, that his king could even think of leaving him.  He changed to chain them together, to bind their hands so they had to stay together finally, forever this time.  No more painful separations.  That wasn’t going to happen right now though, because the sound of Alibaba’s footsteps was growing softer as he walked away.

Or, so Aladdin thought.  But his king had stopped.

Alibaba’s voice was so quiet, Aladdin was surprised he even heard it.  “I’m sorry about your family.  I shouldn’t be angry at you for this, and I _want to trust you_ again.  I want to, because you always have trusted me, even when I hid my past from you.  You listened to me, you’ve done so much for me…”

The blonde took the few steps he needed to be in front of Aladdin, still towering more than a head above his smaller stature.  Aladdin almost wanted to take a step back, but then again, he wanted to jump at Alibaba and hug him, soothe it all.  Neither of those things happened.

Instead, Alibaba kneeled in front of him, breaking down that height barrier so that they were eye to eye, and then bowed.  Aladdin couldn’t see his face, but he heard his words clearly:

“I didn’t mean what I said about joining up with Judal.  I’m not going to betray you, Aladdin _.  I am your king._ ”

Aladdin’s hands trembled, his knees trembled, his mouth trembled; the emotion he felt could not be contained easily, and he didn’t know how to express it.  It was like someone had taken the lock off of a room that would burn only if there were oxygen, and flung the doors wide open, a vacuum that started an explosion of some _emotion that would not be silent once disturbed._

This time, Aladdin watched Alibaba leave and it did not hurt.


End file.
